Amherst College settles due process suit with ‘blacked out’ male it called a rapist

More than two years after he sued Amherst College for declaring him a rapist because a female student sexually molested him while “blacked out,” the second-generation Asian-American plaintiff known only as “John Doe” has achieved a measure of justice.

A federal judge in Boston dismissed the litigation Wednesday following a settlement that the parties brought before the court Friday.

While the terms are confidential, Doe was “negotiating from a position of strength,” KC Johnson, co-author of The Campus Rape Frenzy and Brooklyn College history professor, tweeted Wednesday.

Though Doe’s accuser seemed to admit in text messages to violating him while he was incapacitated, his lawsuit was not looking good until a surprise ruling this spring by Judge Mark Mastroianni, who had previously sided with another college in a due-process case.

“Sandra Jones” was identified as the unnamed activist in a Huffington Post article that suggested she had an ulterior motive to accuse Doe of rape: forcing Amherst to finally expel a student found responsible for sexual assault.

She had been shielded from deposition by a different judge who argued unconvincingly that it would traumatize her, despite ample evidence she had lied about the allegation. Once Mastroianni cleared the suit to continue – meaning Amherst’s practices would be fully exposed in trial – the college apparently started looking for a way out.